Things I Did With My Host Family

I know you're all still waiting on your host family information still, and one lucky student will get the pleasure of staying with my lovely family, so I thought I'd write about my host family today.

I did a lot with them, but I still wish I did more to be honest. I know many of you wonder how to get close with your host family, and the best advice I have is to spend time with them! Don't always go out with your friends or lock yourself in your room. Do things with them, talk with them, interact with them, get to know them!

So these are just some of the things I did with my host family over the summer that helped us get closer and create good memories together. Some things are just simple, while other things involve going places. 
[Also, once you have a host family, make sure they're okay with you using their pictures and stuff!]

• Eat Meals Together: I know this sounds like a given, but not everyone eats a lot of meals with their host families. I always woke up early to eat breakfast with them, and for the first two weeks or so I'd try to go home and eat dinner with them as well. My father worked hard throughout the day and sometimes would come home late, but I often ate breakfast with just him which was nice. Although I didn't see him that much in a day since he worked a lot, we would talk a lot over breakfast. Also, home-cooked Korean food is the best hehe~

• Cook Together: Since the first day, one of the things my brother wanted to do with his new noona was cook! But since I fell asleep super early the first day, we ended up cooking the second day. We made 공중떡볶이, and my brother took me through step-by-step (with my mother's guidance haha). I had never had or heard of 공중떡볶이 before we made it, but it was delicious!! It was a lot of fun cooking with my brother and we got closer from it.

• Play Games: This is how my brother and I first got close... by playing a game! I mentioned it in my post about my first meeting with my host family, but we played an archery game together (after he refused to talk to me when he first saw me haha). I was so bad at it, so he spent a lot of time teaching me and helping me. Games are easy ways to entertain kids and have fun!

•  Go Out To Eat: While my family often ate in, we also went out a lot to eat! It was fun going out to eat with them because they knew what was good to order, and they could show me how to properly eat foods. Also, in Korea it is common to eat out of one dish, so doing so with a host family makes you feel very a part of the family. We went out for foods like bibimbap, shabu shabu, galbi, bingsoo, stews, noodles, burgers, ice cream, etc... Sometimes I felt bad that they were paying for me when we went out, but my mother always made sure I was eating. One time we went to Lotteria and I didn't order anything, but she came upstairs to the table I was at and brought me a green tea tornado&fries. Also we were at a cafe before and I didn't order, but she got me this delicious drink she thought I'd like. Always looking out for me~ 
  
• Go Places: Besides just going out to eat, we went to places like Namsan Tower, Insadong, Gwanghwamun, the movies, museums, my brother's school, a professional soccer game, etc... I kind of wished I went more places with them and not always with my friends, but going to these places with them was really cool and fun. (These places and happenings will have separate blog posts!)
  
  
   
•  Watch TV: My family honestly didn't watch much television, but we would watch dramas and SOCCER cause WORLD CUP!!!! To be honest, my family and I were perfect match because we both loved soccer. We'd wake up super early to watch games (like 5am) and we'd bet on who would win haha. My father and I always chose the same team against my mother and brother. My brother also liked watching some kids shows, and he'd test my Korean by asking me if I could understand.
  
  
  
• Read Books: This may sound kind of weird, but I would read books in Korean (along with my brother so he could answer any questions I had about meaning), and my family would then quiz me on the book haha. It was to help me with Korean, and it definitely did help! There was actually even a question on my final exam at Sogang that I knew the answer to because of a book we had read and their explanation of something to me!
  
• Korean Language Studying: My family was all for helping me with Korean and helping me improve. I regret not speaking as much Korean with them (especially in the beginning), but they did help me improve! My brother would sit in my room and do homework with me, and answer my questions or correct any mistakes. He'd also use this whiteboard in my room to give me Korean lessons. He'd go over grammar and conjugations, and every day he'd give me new Korean vocab words on a random topic! It was sooo cute and helpful at the same time :)
  
  

  

  Lil bro teaching me Korean

•  Meeting Family & Friends: I had the awesome opportunity of meeting my [host] grandparents from each side. With my mother's parents, we went out to eat for one of THE best meals I had in Korea, honestly. We went out for galbi, and the restaurant was very nice. I'll post about that experience a little later, but being able to meet my host grandparents was really cool because not everyone got to I'm sure. Mine also flew in from Germany! I was nervous about meeting them because I really had to make sure I used my formal language, but they showered me with compliments and made me feel very included. I also met my father's mother, and she made me breakfast and we talked over breakfast. She also stayed up after flying in from Germany to meet me, despite being tired. They also brought gifts and stuff (including a HUGE thing of Haribo jellies). They were sooo sweet~ Also, I met my neighbors and we ate a wonderful meal with them! We'd also go over there at night and eat snacks and stuff.. really kind~ I went to my brother's school and met other mothers and their kids, and I went to Insadong and shopping with some of my mother's friends! All very nice!! It made me feel very included in the family meeting their friends and going out with them~ :)
  
  
  
• Mother-[Host] Daughter Time: I don't know what to categorize this as, but my mother and I would talk about makeup and cosmetics and do face masks and paint our nails together haha. She was very fun and I'd argue that she is one of the best host mothers hehe. We also talked about my life in Korea, friends, etc... she made me feel very welcome and comfortable while in Korea. We'd also walk outside sometimes or dance around haha.
  
• Watermelon Time: Okay, this is probably the thing I loved doing the most with my host family. EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, no matter the time, we'd eat watermelon together. If my host father got worked until late at night, we'd wait till he got home and eat watermelon all together. If we got home at 1:30am from a soccer game, we'd STILL eat watermelon together. We ALWAYS ate watermelon. Over watermelon, we'd talk about anything and everything and got so close from our watermelon talking. We'd talk for 2 hours sometimes and stay up until 2am talking. Without fail, we ate watermelon every night, and I loved having a tradition with them. This probably sounds weird to some of y'all, but yeah.. one of my highlights. My host mother even texted me a week or so ago saying "We bought out first watermelon of the year, and when we ate it we thought of you [Lydia].. our watermelon talking together."
  

I know many of you suggested a post about things I did and that you can do with your host families, so hopefully this was helpful! A lot of your host family experience is what YOU make of it and how much effort you put in to getting to know them. More posts will be coming shortly about things I talked about in here, Korean class at Sogang, my host family, tips for packing, etc... Hope this is helpful! :) See you guys in a little less than a month!!!